TORONTO -- Travis Shaw is excited for a fresh start with the Blue Jays.

The 29-year-old infielder struggled through the 2019 season with the Brewers, after making a minor swing change during the previous offseason that his muscle memory held onto long after he tried to abandon it. The results were a .157/.281/.270 slash line with seven homers and 16 RBIs in 86 games.

But with the most difficult on-field experience of his career behind him, Shaw believes that he can take on anything this year with the Blue Jays and return to the form that saw him hit 63 homers, tally 57 doubles, drive in 187 runs and own an .844 OPS through the 2017 and ’18 seasons with the Crew.

“Last year was about as bad as you can possibly go,” Shaw said during a conference call on Friday. “Physically, I was in a good spot, but mentally coming to the field every day, just beating myself up. … I’d never really experienced failure to this level, so going through that, that’s going to benefit me big time going into this year.

“Obviously it sucked going through it at the time, but I know how to get through it a lot better this year I think than I would have; than I did last year.”

After being selected by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the 2011 MLB Draft and spending his first two big league seasons with Boston, Shaw joined the Brewers via trade in '16 and got the first fresh start of his career.

Signing a one-year, $4 million deal as a first-time free agent, the native of Washington Court House, Ohio, is excited for another clean slate with the Blue Jays, hoping to showcase the player he got away from being in Milwaukee.

“Last year was extremely stressful,” Shaw said. “I wanted a shot to get a fresh start. Last year, things went south pretty quickly with the Brewers. I didn’t play well, they were in a playoff race, obviously, so they didn’t have time to afford to just experiment with me to let myself show that I had fixed myself late in the season. But for me, I was looking forward to a new opportunity. I know last year was not the player I am. That’s not going to be the player that I am in the future.

“New starts can be exciting, and for me it’s a chance to start over and reprove myself, which I’m really looking forward to doing.”

In 592 games at the Major League level, the left-handed slugger has amassed 99 home runs, 106 doubles and 310 RBIs, hitting .243/.327/.451 over that span. Shaw has spent the majority of those games at the hot corner, though his time in the Minors with Boston was spent primarily at first base, where he expects to start out with the Blue Jays.

“Positional flexibility is something that benefits me and gives me a little bit more value,” Shaw said. “So I’m open to moving around wherever they need me to be, but for the most part, they stated from the beginning that they envisioned me at first base the majority of the time, spell a couple people here and there, if I need to move around to third base or wherever.”

With the potential of Shaw at first base, Cavan Biggio at second, Bo Bichette at shortstop and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. manning third, Toronto could have an infield comprised entirely of the sons of former Major League All-Stars, a feat Shaw called “incredible” and certainly a lineup that he’s excited to join.

“Any time you play with younger guys, it’s exciting,” he said. “They bring a lot of energy. Just watching them on TV and seeing their highlights last year, with all the hype that Vlad and Bo Bichette and Biggio and all those guys that came up, that’s exciting to be a part of. … I liked the idea of playing with a young team and a team that has a lot of potential here in the next year or two. That was something that stood out to me about the Blue Jays.”